Multimedia personal computers are available which include not only a monitor screen for visual displays but also speakers for an audio output which may be synchronized to the visual output. In an optimum configuration a pair of speakers are provided with one on each side of the monitor screen and mounted on supports so that their respective positions can be adjusted to give the best audio reception for an operator sitting before the monitor and keyboard of the computer.
The present invention has among its principal objects the provision of an articulated support assembly for such audio speakers which is retractable in a recess in the housing of one of the computer components such as an amplifier. The articulated support assembly must be capable of being extended outwardly from that retracted position by means of a plurality of folding arms, all of which can be slideably translated into and out of the housing frame to a selected position. These articulated arms should permit a speaker to be mounted at the end thereof and attached so that it can be rotated and tilted. The object is to incorporate the greatest number of degrees of freedom for infinitely variable selective positioning of the speaker and yet permit the entire support assembly to be retracted out of sight into the housing frame when not in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,396 discloses audio speakers which can be translated into and out of a recess in an associated frame but that single degree of freedom of adjustment is all the assembly provides. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,976,162 and 4,601,361 show paired audio speakers which can be pivoted angularly but again that is the only degree of freedom of adjustment they provide. In a related field U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,235 teaches document holders for mounting on opposite sides of a computer monitor screen which are free to be tilted about two different axes but it affords no ability for translation in an in-and-out direction nor does it allow for retraction into any housing when not in use. U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,124 is unrelated to audio or computer equipment but is of interest in its disclosure of a pair of articulated supports which permit adjustment with at least three degrees of freedom, but none of them allows for in-and-out translation and the disclosure is silent on the concept of retraction into a housing.